Drought slashes U.S. Midwest corn crop.

OMAHA, Neb., July 27 (Reuters) - The most extensive
U.S. drought in five decades has left corn plants withered and dying,
and crop yields in the largest producing states will be much lower than experts have forecast,
scouts said on Friday as they completed a U.S. Midwest crop tour.

The MDA EarthSat crop tour estimated a corn yield
of a 118 bushels per acre after surveying 49 fields in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
That was sharply lower than a U.S. Agriculture Department estimate earlier this month of a yield of 146 bpa
and a Reuters poll this week of 130.8 bpa.
"The combination of heat and dryness is the worst since 1988,"
said Kyle Tapley,
head ag meteorologist with MDA EarthSat,
who was on the tour.
"The widespread nature of the drought combined with the heat left disappointing yields everywhere.
We saw variability,
but the good is not going to outweigh the bad."